Low It's Off To The Big

Smoke In Style

From Gordon Russell, on Rarotonga TEAL’s farewell to the Cooks in September was a body m to many Cook Islanders dreaming of fat pay envelopes New Zealand. Then out of the blue came an answer to dr prayers.

952, when New Zealand’s NAC ithdrew its isl a n d-hopping akotas from its five-year-old and-Nadi-Apia-Aitutaki-Raro circuit, Aitutaki’s lagoon be the only stop-over in the i for the plump but graceful i Solents that took their place, onga, centre of government ommerce in the Cooks, was left i a limb. eight years these outmoded -boats, their expectation of ushed to the last flying hour, wearily spanned the Coral !, freighting tired business men ard to Tahiti, ambitious young Islanders westward to their i, New Zealand. v the last of the Solents is illy retired and TEAL, tem ily operating DC6’s, has wiped 2ooks completely. Today it’s Papeete non-stop, and soon h it will be Nadi-Tahiti-Hono the mecca-conscious Raro n, the one sure, if costly, link distant NZ shores has been id, or so it has seemed. True, Did Maui Pomare was still hing bravely once a month be- Rarotonga and Auckland but berth, they said, was booked out two years ahead. Her suc ', the brand new Moana Roa, carry only about 10 more igers. 5 for the good old Solent days, i were lucky, you bridged the

140-mile gap from Rarotonga to Aitutaki by NZ Civilair calibration aircraft, under charter to TEAL for a day or two on each quarterly visit to the Cooks. Otherwise it was take a deep breath and some seasick pills, board one of the unpredictable Islands trading vessels and —battered, sodden and marvellously sub dued —you were rowed ashore next morning on a pile of merchandise,

to hibernate in Aitutaki until the next westbound Solent droned over head. Three days later you were in Auckland.

New Hope

But new hope has recently arrived.

Matson will help out!

A large and genial American was recently in Rarotonga, asking ques tions. He was Mr. T. E. Rowe, South Pacific representative of Mat son, bringing the news that since Tahiti was Matson’s only south bound call they were looking for another Islands paradise to break the ocean vista. Rarotonga hap pened to be handy.

Mr. Rowe already knew something about us. Some trips back, the Monterey and Mariposa had come in close and taken a look. Once or twice the Matson freighter Sonoma had diverted to Rarotonga to share in the seasonal crops of oranges and tomatoes for Auckland.

And then there were those press cuttings about the Bergensfjord calls. Each time her passengers had voted Rarotonga number one visit, their verdict “unsophisticated charm”.

A quaint little place, Mr. Rowe thought. Where else would you find ship’s passengers embarking and disembarking in a great wicker chair?

Nice people, though, and lots of hula girls, flowers and laughter.

The open roadstead was the only trouble: a pity that the Monterey and Mariposa were single-screw ships, needing tugs to push them in and out of corners. Not the best

[?]s "Monterey", photographed against a backdrop of Rarotonga's mountains, during her survey visit. The Matson liners "Monterey" and "Mariposa" will now make regular here.

Photo: R. D. Moore

Matson's South Pacific's vice-president, Mr. T.

E Rowe, gets the VIP treatment at Rarotonga during his recent survey.

Photo: Stuart Kingan

irting coral reefs, but that was 0 their skippers. he thought this need not be eduled call. He liked the word ick. 1 it was not a matter of let their tourists loose on Raro , and having to round them be thing was to take the local • to the ship, with the waving as a backdrop. The ship coufd up a troupe of singers and rs, a vendor or two of curios, around for the performance, them off, then away south, jassengers need not leave the That was the way of it and a tours so spent would mean a ng arrival at Auckland, better the present afternoon schedule.

I that’s the way it will be. good as all this will be for n, it’s also a good thing for onga, too, because it means er outlet for Cooks’ passengers 2. And there are plenty of igers!

It's An Old Story y, migration from here to New id was fashionable seven ed years ago! It was about HD, they say, when five canoes f from Rarotonga for the land e Long White Cloud. These they call it the Big Smoke, be urge is still upon them, ury fares? The money will be and they’ll be waiting by the r chair. You may not know it, .owe, but you’re starting some- Rowe, who on his recent visit arrived on the last TEAL sr flight from Aitutaki, left e Monterey. Boisterous trades

prevailed as the Monterey drew closer to Rarotonga, and no doubt Mr. Rowe was thinking of that hectic ride on the wicker chair. But the wind had eased when the float ing hotel was off Avarua, a picture in pastels, and half the population was on the foreshore, as Mr. Rowe and his party put off in the Union Company’s tug. They didn’t need the wicker chair.

Dearer But Better Two hours later the big ship was under way again, and on board, besides Mr. Rowe, were 17 Raro tongans who had taken up every spare berth—at £B3 a head. That was $3,500 dollars in two hours.

A few weeks later it was the Mariposa's turn to pull into Raro tonga, and this time more than 30

Cook Islanders moved into cosy quarters.

At £B3 for the privilege it was twice the cost of the Moana Roa, but still cheaper than TEAL, and no complications.

All Mr. Rowe had to do, back in his Sydney office, was think of the first number and double it.

Odd, had remarked a senior official bound for New Zealand, that after three years of self-deny ing effort I should have to struggle home in the final trip of the old Maui, while my office boy does it in style in the Monterey. (But not so odd, really; the official still had his life savings!) Every three weeks, then, as berths allow, and wicker chair or not, it looks like eis and farewells at Raro tonga to a group of Cook Islanders, mecca bound by Matson!

asket ... Matson's passengers may or may not get a thrill.

Photo: R. D. Moore